Below is a tweet by the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. They call it "#bestnine2018." The first picture listed is a statement by ELCA Presiding Bishop Elizabeth Eaton saying, "No human institution decides who is human, who is visible, who is valued. Human sexuality and gender identity is a beautiful mystery. Trans people, like all people, are beloved by God."

The ELCA is calling this one of their Best Nine of 2018. Also included in their best nine are two pictures (maybe three) of the atrocious ELCA Youth Gathering where teenagers were indoctrinated with leftist anti-Biblical theology and politics, a bunch of "ELCA votes" buttons, three pictures of candles and a cross picture.

The Lutheran School of Theology at Chicago (LSTC) is a seminary of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA). A couple weeks ago, Masters of Divinity student Elle Dowd preached during worship in the school's Augustana Chapel (listen to it here or read it here).

​Elle Dowd didn't want us to miss it, as she contacted me a number of times wanting me to read her sermon (and write about, no doubt).

The Lutheran School of Theology at Chicago certainly thought highly of it as well, because they promoted it on their Facebook page and linked to the full audio of the sermon.

I can never figure out what sets off @ExposingtheELCA and what they’ll ignore. Tell angry women to organize? Get called out. Preach a sermon in Lstc chapel comparing Jesus to a trans woman of color? Nothing. I thought for sure that’d be a thing because he hates our seminaries □□‍♀️

​Below is the type of teaching and preaching future ELCA pastors are digesting (and it has been like this for years).

Lowlights of the sermon:

"Grace and peace are yours from the One who made all genders in Their image. Amen".

"Jesus, a sexual minority himself at the time by virtue of being unmarried and in many ways queer, is telling this story of equality to the religious aristocracy..."

"And in Mark today Jesus just refuses to fall into their trap and stay within their bounds. This is a very queer thing to do as well, to blur lines, subvert hierarchies. Marcella Althaus-Reid says that – in addition to calling Jesus 'God in human drag' – Jesus is queer precisely BECAUSE of his transgressiveness. To be queer is to be transgressive. To break the rules and norms of society."

"And the church, with its queer-antagonistic, white supremacist, and misogynistic interpretations of scripture, has their blood on our hands."

"Creating a permanent criminal underclass is the foundation of mass incarceration and modern day slavery, and the United States Empire – cheered on by our own Religious Aristocracy – delights in setting traps of racism and poverty for the purposes of their own profit."

Presiding Bishop Elizabeth Eaton of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) made a statement today that is very indicative of where the ELCA is now, how they have swallowed the lies of the world and departed from the Word of God. Presiding Bishop Eaton declared,

"​No human institution decides who is human, who is visible, who is valued. Human sexuality and gender identity is a beautiful mystery. Trans people, like all people, are beloved by God."
​

Here is Bishop Eaton's Twitter post -

No human institution decides who is human, who is visible, who is valued. Human sexuality and gender identity is a beautiful mystery. Trans people, like all people, are beloved by God.

Presiding Bishop Eaton's statement is one of support for transgender persons. It was apparently made in response to ​a recent statement made by President Trump "that his administration is 'seriously' considering changing the way it treats transgender people under the law, confirming what administration officials describe as a debate about whether to define a person’s sex as a biological fact determined at birth." (see here)

There was at least one request for a statement by Bishop Eaton about this:

It's time @ELCABishopEaton@ELCA to make a statement affirming trans people, God's love, and a commitment that trans loves #WontBeErased. The Church and God are waiting for you to proclaim the gospel.

Goddoeslove all people. But that does not mean He loves everything we do, everything we say, everything we "are" or all of our actions. Bishop Eaton, by her statement, is affirming homosexuality, bisexuality, transgenderism and all the claimed gender identities as "beautiful," that they are good, that they are not sin.

This is the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. Harming people by encouraging sin. Standing against our holy and loving God. Why would anyone be part of this denomination, this evil work of the devil that emerges in proclamations and statements such as this?

​Also, notice how the Presiding Bishop says "​No human institution decides who is human, who is visible, who is valued." Yet, the ELCA supports the killing of unborn humans and actually pays for employee abortions in their health care insurance. Many who are pro-abortion love to claim that the unborn children are not humans to justify their position. You can't have it both ways, Bishop Eaton.

Below you will find tweets of praise which Bishop Eaton received for making this statement. (Her statement has been shared on Facebook almost 2700 times and over 400 times on Twitter.)

The @ELCA is committed to "attend to the need for equal
protection, equal opportunities, and equal responsibilities under the law, and
just treatment for those with varied sexual orientation and gender
identity." Human Sexuality: Gift and Trust p. 33 https://t.co/eJT8InVm3Zhttps://t.co/AHqMCClXJu

(The following article was written by Rev. Tom Brock of pastorsstudy.org. You can follow Pastor Brock on Facebook - here and Twitter - here.)

The most recent edition of Living Lutheran, the national magazine of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, has an article about “Seeking the Spirit Within”. It states “Prayer can include coloring mandalas, using beads, meditating over a piece of Scripture, walking a labyrinth or repeating a name or phrase.” A mandala is a ritual symbol in Hinduism and Buddhism, representing the universe, which is used for the purpose of meditation and trance induction. So why is the ELCA promoting this? Repeating a name or phrase over and over is also part of Buddhist meditation (think “Om”), but where does Jesus ever teach us to say a word over and over in order to meditate?

This is called syncretism, taking non-Christian practices and beliefs and mixing them together with Christianity. It is what got the ancient Jews in trouble when they tried to mix Baal worship with the worship of Jehovah. The ELCA needs to remember the words of the First Commandment regarding syncretism: Thou shalt have no other gods.

June is gay pride month and Living Lutheran devotes a whole article to ways your church can be gay-friendly. Don’t talk in Sunday school materials about mom and dad since we need to “remember your same-gendered-married couples.” Get a gender-neutral bathroom in your church. Celebrate gender identity and transition (changing one's sex) in your fellow Christians. Don’t say Christian “brothers and sisters” since this excludes non-binary and transgender people.

It appears the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America has swallowed the GLBT agenda whole. Living Lutheran no longer allows the conservative view on homosexuality to be even heard.

(The following article was written by Rev. Tom Brock of pastorsstudy.org. You can follow Pastor Brock on Facebook - here and Twitter - here.)

Pro-transgender advice from ELCA Lutheran magazine: Say "siblings in Christ, instead of brothers and sisters in Christ; parents and guardians, instead of mom and dad; and all genders, instead of both genders"

These pro-transgender articles from Living Lutheran keep coming, without a hint that there is another side to the issue, namely, that rejecting one's appointed sex is a rejection of God's plan for one's life. No one is ever allowed to say that in this official magazine of the liberal Evangelical Lutheran Church in America.

The church I attended as a teenager in Omaha used to support the camp referred to below. My old pastors would weep to see what the ELCA has become.

The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America has chosen a transgender boy and his transgender advocacy activist mom to be speakers at the 2018 ELCA Youth Gathering. (see below and this link)

The boy (who wants to be a girl) is just 12 years old and has been carted around the United States to speak for transgender rights.

Over 30,000 teenagers will be attending the ELCA Youth Gathering, and I can guarantee the transgender lifesyle will be presented as something to be celebrated.

This is an egregious example of the ELCA's indoctrination of the youth of the denomination.

The ELCA has been pushing their Bible-defying viewpoints on membership since it was formed in 1988. And it just keeps getting worse.

​Transgenderism is the latest cause. And the ELCA is striking out against the will of the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords, and teenagers are in their cross-hairs.
​

Kevin DeYoung writes,"The Bible teaches that God made us male or female, and no matter our own feelings or confusion, we should act in accordance with the biological reality of God’s good design. Transgenderism falls short of the glory of God and is not the way to walk in obedience to Christ." (see here)

​God does not desire children or adults to reject their God-given genders, mutilate their bodies and pretend to live as the opposite sex. They need to be helped out of their confusion and embrace the truth of their biological sex.

​​But that will not be taught at the 2018 ELCA Youth Gathering.

​Sadly and infuriatingly, the trans-advocate mother and son are not the only troubling speakers the ELCA has hired to speak to the 30,000 impressionable teens. ELCA's Rev. Tuhina Verma Rasche is one of the Gathering keynote speakers. She is an outspoken radical and controversial pastor, who gained fame in the ELCA for co-authoring the (please excuse the vulgarity) "Fuck This Shit" devotional, is an advocate for premarital sex, and when you read her tweets, you will find it displays lots of anger, swearing, demonitization of white males, racist comments about white people, liberal politics, gay pride, trans pride and anger at the United States of America. (see here)

ELCA Rev. Nadia Bolz-Weber is another keynote speaker at the ELCA Youth Gathering. She is a foul-mouthed, proponent of premarital sex, supporter of Planned Parenthood, who has many theological beliefs that run contrary to Scripture. She is a universalist who has presided over a transgender re-naming ceremony and has had a drag queen emcee her church's children's program. (read more about Rev. Bolz-Weberhereand here)

If you are sending your youth to the ELCA National Youth Gathering, please consider cancelling their trip.

Below is the transgender advocate mother's tweets about speaking at the Youth Gathering.

​Luther Seminary has a website that provides advice and help for pastors writing sermons. An article on the ELCA seminary website shows you how far the denomination has departed from Scripture and how the secular world mindset has taken over the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. The article's authors edited the following Bible verse to say: “They cried to the Lord in their trouble, and Ze delivered them from their distress; Ze brought them out of darkness and the shadow of death, and burst their bonds apart” - Psalm 107:13-14.

​An article footnote says "Gender-inclusive terms for God are used by the authors; translation is adapted from the English Standard Version of the Bible." (see here) ​

The article's ELCA affiliated authors replaced two pronouns for "He," used to refer to God in the verses, with the recently invented word "Ze." According to the Cambridge Dictionary, 'ze' is "a pronoun sometimes used instead of 'he' or 'she' because it does not show a particular gender." (see here)

This is all part of the gender fluidity lie, transgenderism embrace, rejection of calling God "Father" and rewriting of God's Word that is dominating the culture.

Again, this is an article for pastors posted by a website of Luther Seminary, an Evangelical Lutheran Church in America institution. (see here)

The article was co-authored by Rev. Jennifer Chrien and Jessica Davis. Jennifer Chrien is the senior pastor at the ELCA's Shepherd of the Valley Lutheran Church in Simi Valley, CA. Jessica Davis is a chaplain for #decolonizeLutheranism, an organization formed of mostly ELCA leaders, and a signer of the ​"Naked & Unashamed Statement" which was also written by ELCA leaders. Interestingly, last year Jessica Davis was part of a discussion panel that included the presiding bishop of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, and is obviously in a position of influence in the ELCA.

The apostate church, the world and ultimately the devil want to destroy the life, faith and souls of our youth. The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America is part of this: injecting sexual perversion and evil into the hearts and minds of young people. They are justifying and encouraging sexual sin and denying the clear reading of scripture against it.

Take a look at some of what the the ELCA has been doing lately that is aimed at the youth of the church:

- The ELCA's ​​Southeastern PennsylvaniaSynod, in their newsletter, invited LGBT youth on a youth retreat -

​- Lutherock is a camp of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, located in Newland, NC. They hold all kinds of gatherings for children and teens. Below Lutherock posted this message and picture of a same-sex wedding of their past staff members. It gives us clear indication as to the mindset and beliefs taught to the children who attend the camp.

​
​- A large gathering for ELCA high school youth in regions 1-4 was held at California Lutheran University (CLU), June 28 - July 2, 2017. One of the featured speakers was transgender ELCA pastor, Megan Rohrer. (see here)

Below is the transgender pastor's post on Instagram while at the youth gathering.

You can not change your sex. You can not change your gender. Those are facts. Trying to do so goes against God's will for you and is a sin against God. (see here)

It is also a sin to encourage sinful behavior. The ELCA is guilty of this. They do this regarding homosexuality and transgenderism. This week the ELCA's St. Matthew-Trinity Lutheran Church in Hoboken, New Jersey, announced that one of their pastors is "transitioning" from female to male. They will be holding a renaming service for this pastor. The bishop of the New Jersey Synod, Tracie Bartholomew, will be the featured preacher that day.

​Here is Pastor Rose Beeson, the transitioning woman who is having the renaming service.

Pastor Beeson's church will also be holding LGBT Etiquette Training. The church newsletter describes it this way, “a refresher course on terminology used by lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people to equip us with more tools and resources to make St. Matthew Trinity an even safer and more welcoming congregation. This builds on SMT's historic commitment to be a Reconciling in Christ congregation, welcoming people of all sexual orientations and gender identities.” (See here)

Here are a couple excited St. Matthew-Trinity members sharing the news of their pastor's renaming ceremony.

This isn't just a case of one wayward church or one wayward ELCA leader embracing transgenderism. It is happening throughout the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America.
​
- Not long ago a ELCA website published an article by an ELCA pastor about her transgender child. (See here)

​- The ELCA's Sierra Pacific Synod 2016 Assembly Handbook tells us how the synod had a workshop called “The Story of Gender.” Here are the first few sentences describing the workshop:
​
“Gender is no longer just male and female. As a church we need to know and understand the language around gender identities and be able to include this language into our liturgy.
Now that many people are getting the language needed to help them understand who they are, such as transgender, people are now able to live into authenticity.” (See here, page 18)

- Also in the Sierra Pacific Synod 2016 Assembly Handbook you can read all the changes being recommending to the synod and the ELCA by the Committee on Gender Identity Inclusivity in response to two resolutions that were passed at the 2015 Sierra Pacific Synod Assembly. (see previous link and go to page 71)

- Fittingly, I just came across this tonight.

Lifting prayers for strength and courage to all my dear friends at #CC18. I am finishing my last semester of seminary by serving as a pastoral intern. Next year, I hope to be with you as a transgender Latina who is an ordained pastor in the ELCA.

As part of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America's observance of the 500th Anniversary of the Reformation, the denomination conducted a survey of ELCA members. The survey said "...we are interested in learning your current knowledge of the Reformation and participation in the 500th anniversary, including Reformation worship, education and service activities." (see here)

If you took the survey you would have come across this page:

A concerned ELCA member, Matt Reisetter, sent me this screenshot of the ELCA survey. The ELCA's list of answers to the question, "What is your gender?" included the option "Not listed." This survey answer option is certainly consistent with the radically liberal view held by the ELCA on sexuality.

(The following article was written by Rev. Tom Brock of pastorsstudy.org. You can follow Pastor Brock on Facebook - here and Twitter - here.)

Today I talked with an elderly Lutheran woman who left her church because it hired a lesbian pastor who has a partner. The church is not far from where I live, and I went to its website to see what such a pastor would preach. The website says it is a progressive church, then says (repeatedly) how much they welcome people of all sexual orientations and gender identities. The elderly woman had told me that her last visit to her church was when they were celebrating "Gender Identity Sunday".

In her blog the pastor begins by quoting Jonathan Edwards' famous sermon "Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God" and then says:

"His words and approach do not represent the God of love that I follow, just like we don’t beat our children in the shed anymore...As for Hell, Hell isn’t a place. It’s an experience: Hell is what the families in Flint Michigan are going through. Hell is a child going to bed hungry, their parents frantic and broken not knowing where their next meal is coming from. Hell is hoping the war in the Middle East doesn’t claim more children-our children. Hell is standing at the border of an unfamiliar country, holding a sick child, only to be turned away."

She is wrong. Jesus talked about Hell as a place where there will be "eternal punishment" (Matthew 25:46). In fact, Jesus talks more about Hell than anyone else in the New Testament. And the Bible teaches that people who live in impenitent sin, including fornication, idolatry, drunkenness, homosexuality, etc., will not inherit the kingdom of heaven (1 Corinthians 6:9-11). Perhaps the pastor has a vested interest in denying the reality of Hell.

The elderly woman I spoke to was upset that the ELCA synod leadership promoted this person to become the pastor of her church. Not too many years ago, someone living in impenitent sin would be lovingly challenged to turn from sin, and if they refused they could be excommunicated. Instead today such people are made pastors in the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America.

The good news is the elderly woman has found a very biblical Lutheran Church that she now loves.

(The following article was written by Rev. Tom Brock of pastorsstudy.org. You can follow Pastor Brock on Facebook - here and Twitter - here. At the end of his article, you will find a few additional comments by me.)

In the same interview in which Elizabeth Eaton, the head Bishop of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, said that she believes Hell is empty, she also supports a spectrum of sexualities--not everyone is male or female. Jesus said otherwise in Matthew 19:4. Bishop Eaton also recently made it clear that she wants transgendered people in the military.

Tap the below for the whole story from a pro-homosexual Lutheran group which is rejoicing.

Please, if you are a Bible-believing Lutheran and still in the ELCA, ask yourself what more it would take for you to take your money, time, and talents and join the more Biblical denomination?

Here is the quote from the Presiding Bishop of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America - “Our church has done work for years thinking about this. And we have come to the understanding that God’s creation is diverse and that the diversity of God’s creation is actually a gift and then when we take a look a people’s sexual orientation or gender identity, it’s not completely binary. Everybody isn’t male or everybody isn’t female. There’s a whole spectrum to that. I think that’s something that’s new for a lot of our people to think about, but it’s the truth…we’re very clear that everyone bears the image of God and everyone is considered precious in God’s eyes.” (listen here)

Last week hundreds of Christian leaders signed a statement that stood in accord with Biblical sexual guidelines, the “Nashville Statement.” (see here) The “Christian” left threw a fit. They do not agree with Biblical standards on sexuality and gender.

Enter the darling of the ELCA, beloved by bishops and highly sought after speaker, Rev. Nadia Bolz-Weber. She quickly reacted with a counter statement, called the “Denver Statement,” that outlines how far the ELCA has slipped from God and His truth.

In the statement Pastor Bolz-Weber writes:

- “WE DENY that God intends marriage as a gift only to be enjoyed by those who happen to be heterosexual, cis-gendered and fertile.”

- “WE DENY that the only type of sexual expression that can be considered holy is between a cis-gendered, heterosexual, married couple who waited to have sex until they were married.”

The popular ELCA pastor seems to be saying homosexual sex and heterosexual premarital sex can be holy.

She goes on:

- “WE AFFIRM that the glorious variety of gender and sexual expression is a reflection of God’s original creation design and are aspects of human flourishing.”

So according to Nadia Bolz-Weber, God made people homosexual and a host of different (made-up) genders.

- “WE DENY that sexual attraction for the same sex is outside the natural goodness of God’s original creation…”

- “WE DENY that it is sinful to approve of queer identities and that such approval constitutes an essential departure from Christian faithfulness and witness.” (see here)

After reading Nadia’s “Denver Statement” a signer of the “Nashville Statement” wrote,

“It is always good to see what someone who has little ability to understand Scripture in its historical and literary context has to say about God's will. (I say this seriously, not sarcastically.) It gives us a window into her own theology divorced from the witness of Jesus and the apostles.”

Another person commented,

“I knew exactly what I was getting into when I saw it was Nadia Bolz-Weber. The unabashed way in which her statements discard even the semblance of Biblical alignment, and merely package regressive humanism, is still pretty bracing.

I find the Luciferian (and I use that word advisedly) manner in which she recasts and perverts the Biblical perspective to be quite brazen. It's one thing to hold an incorrect and confused view, but to stand up and make a declaration like that... plainly rewriting truth before your eyes... stunning. And lest anyone think I overstate the case, her Luciferian alignment is proudly displayed in para 1 of her rewritten preamble where she expresses agreement with the spirit of this age - clearly flaunting it before the scripturally literate by putting herself on the other side of 2 Cor 4:4.”

This is an ELCA church, an ELCA pastor and his wife holding a "blessing" for their son who they say is a transgender girl. The son's mother (pastor's wife) said the gathering was to affirm "her" (the boy's) "forever name." This is the way today's society is going and the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America seems to be leading the way.